Female Accountants are Top of the Class

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Corrina Cockayne of http://www.target-accountants.com writes that Accountancy may be seen as a male profession, but the latest round of exam results proves otherwise.

(PRWEB)July 24, 2010

Alison Shorto, Audit Assistant at the Reading-based firm, was one of seven female trainees out of a total eight to receive an award for her outstanding achievements in her Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) exams this year to become a qualified chartered accountant.

The 28-year-old, from Crowthorne, was awarded the Little Prize for her taxation paper after coming first in the Professional Stage exams of the Institute’s Associate Chartered Accountant (ACA) qualification.

“I am delighted with this award,” said Alison. “Although accountancy has traditionally been seen as a male profession, this simply isn’t the case. Recent surveys show that 50% of qualified accountants are women, so this goes to show that times have definitely changed.

“Accountancy offers great career prospects for graduates who have good degrees and a strong interest in business and finance. In my case, I left university with a biology degree and PHD, but had always enjoyed working with numbers, so accountancy seemed like a natural career choice,” she adds.

Compared with other top 50 firms, http://www.Target-accountants.com has a high intake of female trainees at 40% and an even higher proportion of professional staff at 54%.

Debbie Taylor, HR Director at Target, said: “Here at Target, we do not judge male or female candidates - we look for people with strong exam success, initiative and career ambition.

“Our clients are predominantly owner-managed businesses who need their accountants to be challenging, collaborative and help them find pathways to their goals. These are the qualities we therefore seek out in our candidates, irrespective of their gender,” Debbie explains.

“We are proud to have Alison as part of our team and look forward to seeing her reach her full potential,” she adds.

Target Chartered Accountants
Target is a top 50* firm of chartered accountants working exclusively with entrepreneurial individuals and their businesses around the country. The firm has 11 directors and 180 staff working out of four UK offices in the Midlands, Bath, London and Reading. Established 11 years ago as a specialist tax consultancy, Target is a leading adviser in six core integrated service areas: Audit and Assurance, Business Services, Tax Planning, Corporate Finance, Financial Management and HR Consultancy. *(source: Accountancy Age magazine, 2010)